Anyone who drinks standing pond or well water contaminated
by persons with Guinea worm infection is at risk. People who live
in villages
where the infection is
common are at greatest risk.
Larvae of guinaeworm enter the human body when people drink water
contaminated with the cyclops containing infective larvae in
the stomach. Cyclops are
digested and the larvae can move freely . They subsequently try to penetrate
the thin
intestinal wall. If successful they end up in the connective tissues of
abdomen and thorax they develop in to adult worm ,mating after
3 months.When mature
, the female moves toward the surface, usually of the legs. About a year
after
the infection begins the female is ready to emerge from the body to reproduce
by releasing up to 3 million larvae.
The female worm produces toxic substances that break down the overlying
skin causing painful blisters and ulcers. The worm partly emerges and
releases larvae over a period of 1-3 weeks frequently when
the affected person enters
water.
For example to collect drinking water.
The released larvae are not directly infective to humans. They
can remain active in water for about three days. Inside the cyclops
, the guinea
worm larvae develop
over a period of about two weeks into larval stage that is infective
to humans.
